I had a .500, but never carried it. I usually have my .41 Mag with stout handloads and Hornady 210gr XTPs. I'm very confident with this gun/load.
Unless I'm actually hunting, then I carry a rifle and my .45 ACP. If there's "trouble" the rifle is much more powerful than any handgun.

You should have told the guy in Wenatchee and the lady in Gig Harbor that got mauled by black bears,that all they needed was a stick.
Yeah

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All i know is that statistically you are astronomically more apt to get mauled by a domesticated dog than a black bear. I know people who have worked for the forest service and had many hundreds of encounters with black bears in their careers and all agree that they have yet to come across a black bear that won't run when chased.

By and large they are curious but very shy creatures. Mistakes happen. People do dumb things around bears, they run from them, they try to touch them, their neighbors feed them. Then of course there is that one in approximately 600,000 (usfs biologist #'s not mine) black bears that actually stalks and attacks a human.

Knowing all that, i still carry when out fishing & back-packing. I think we're hard-wired to worry about being eaten It's a security blanket and could very well come in handy when a two legged predator tries to pull something.

Both cases seems the people were trying to get between the bear and food.
Now the dog owners didn't see Fido as food but the bear did.
Just something to think about

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Did the dog attacked the bear? Since injury to a predator usually means death, they instinctively avoid anything that fights back too well. I've certainly heard of black bears fighting hunting dogs once cornered, but usually they run and climb a tree when faced with a dog or dogs on the loose.

Did the dog attacked the bear? Since injury to a predator usually means death, they instinctively avoid anything that fights back too well. I've certainly heard of black bears fighting hunting dogs once cornered, but usually they run and climb a tree when faced with a dog or dogs on the loose.

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The one in Leavenworth was a broke down old guy(bear) rummaging the garbage can,as I remember.And the dog went after it? then the owner after the dog or such.He was the Lawyer from Seattle

why would you want to shoot a bear? they are cute and cuddly woodland creatures.

if you are really scared of being eaten, always go into the woods with a companion who can't run as fast as you.

but, seriously, you smell bad, taste bad, and make entirely too much noise. but if you really want an excuse to kill a bear, put a dab of peanut butter behind each ear and hang a salami from your neck.

Black bear attacks are more common than grizzly attacks.. they can exceed 500 lbs and can easily kill you. Some of you guys remind me of Mr Grizzly in AK who thought he was safe.. one day all they found of him was bear scat

Black bear attacks are more common than grizzly attacks.. they can exceed 500 lbs and can easily kill you. Some of you guys remind me of Mr Grizzly in AK who thought he was safe.. one day all they found of him was bear scat

Although black bear attacks are rare and most victims come out unscathed, this does not negate the fact that black bear attacks do happen and are sometimes fatal. Since 1900, there have been only 45-recorded deaths that were caused by black bears in the North America. This number is very minimal compared to the over 500 conflicts between black bears and humans from 1960 to 1980. Black bear attacks are much more common in the United States than are grizzly bear attacks. The main reason for the difference is the population size of each species. There are approximately 300,000 black bears in the continental United States, whereas there are only about 2000-3000 grizzlies still remaining in the lower 48 states. The larger population of black bears greatly increases the probability of encountering one in the wild.

Black bear attacks may occur more frequently than grizzly bear attacks, but this does not mean that black bears are more ferocious than their brown cousins. Ninety percent of all known black bear attacks have only resulted in minor injuries, whereas over half of all grizzly bear attacks have caused major injuries. Black bear attacks/encounters have been most common in national parks where the bears have been desensitized (also known as habituation) to the presence of humans, and have been conditioned to human food and garbage. These &#8220;food conditioned&#8221; bears have learned to associate humans as an easy and reliable food source, which brings some bears in closer contact with people than would normally be expected. More times than not, bears that have become habituated and/or food conditioned are killed because managers fear that the learned behavior will result in injuries, and possibly death to humans.

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45 deaths from black bears in 111 years resulting from how many million encounters? You're more likely to be bludgeoned to death with a bottle of mayonaise by your elderly neighborhood grocery checker.

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